Smart textiles are engineered fabrics that incorporate a sensor system to note and react to inputs received by the sensor. The electrical circuitry of the sensor system can easily be woven into the fabric of the smart textile, which makes it convenient and easily wearable without drawing attention. Monitoring the health of the user is currently the major application of smart textiles. Wearable textiles can be easily programmed to detect and monitor various biological markers, which has made them popular for applications such as heartbeat monitoring and temperature monitoring.

According to analysts from Transparency Market Research, the global smart textile market’s valuation was US$700 mn in 2014. At a stunning CAGR of 30.8%, the market is estimated to grow more than tenfold over the eight-year forecast period between 2015 and 2023. The market is estimated to be worth more than US$7.7 bn by 2023.

There are multiple ways of incorporating sensor systems into fabrics, but nanotechnology has proven particularly beneficial for the global smart textile market in the last few years. Nano-scale sensor components can be readily woven into fabric and can also help impart particular beneficial properties such as antimicrobial resistance and stain resistance.

The rapid increase in the demand from the global smartphone market has also been a major driver for the global smart textile market. Smartphone apps, which connect and interact with the sensor system and display and store the results, are emerging as the best method to operate the sensor systems in smart textiles. The increasing awareness of urban smartphone buyers has boosted the prospects of the global smart textile market.

On the flip side, the high production cost of smart textiles is a major restraint on the global market. Smart textiles are highly sophisticated and require high-end materials; as a result, manufacturers haven’t yet been successful in hitting the perfect cost-price balance. Incompatibility issues between different types of smart textiles and electronic systems are also common, further making it difficult for the global smart textiles market to achieve steady growth.